Who Is My Neighbor?

You can believe the correct things and still be far from God.

The questions we ask give us the answers we get. The lawyer was asking the wrong question.

Jews as a whole were commonly divided into three groups:

Priests

Levites

Israelites

Samaritans:

-Once part of the Hebrew people

-Scattered by the Assyrian Empire, intermarried

-Considered half-breeds by the Jews

-Sided against Jews in the Maccabean Wars

-Lots of conflict, despised and rejected by Jews

Old question: Who is my neighbor? New question: What kind of a neighbor am I?

The lawyer’s knowledge was flawless. But he had very little mercy.

How do we get our softness back?

Jesus is the True Good Samaritan. Like the Samaritan, he:

-Was of mixed descent

-Was despised and rejected

-Came near to us when he did not have to

-Carried us when we could not carry ourselves

-Paid for us when we had nothing

-Is coming back